Rep. Hare: Probe troop security

Sunday

Jun 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2008 at 8:09 PM

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, has requested the House Armed Services Committee investigate charges made by Maj. Clark Davis of Dunlap about security vulnerabilities at Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan.

CLARE HOWARD

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, has requested the House Armed Services Committee investigate charges made by Maj. Clark Davis of Dunlap about security vulnerabilities at Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan.

In his formal request for an investigation, Hare wrote that concern is mounting in Congress over the role of civilian contractors in Afghanistan, and Davis' account raises new concerns that civilian contractors may actually be putting troops at additional risk.

"I am concerned that civilian contractors may be operating with little accountability and that the security provided to them by the U.S. military is diverting our forces from their true combat missions," Hare wrote.

Davis, a Vietnam veteran and career Army man, worked as security coordinator for KBR, the largest civilian contractor for the U.S. Army. Until last year, KBR was part of Halliburton. The corporation, based in Houston, has more than 50,000 employees worldwide and 2007 revenue of $8.7 billion.

Hare's request for an investigation was sent to the House Armed Services Committee on Friday.

Lt. Col. Mark Wright, public affairs officer with the U.S. Secretary of Defense, said Davis' concerns have been forwarded to military commanders at Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan.

There has been no response yet from military commanders there about the allegations Davis makes about operations at the camp.

After three months at Camp Phoenix, Davis returned to central Illinois alarmed that security vulnerabilities he documented and was prevented from correcting are jeopardizing troops.

Issues he discussed with Hare, which the congressman is specifically citing in his letter to the Armed Services Committee, include inadequate screening of hundreds of local nationals entering the camp every night; inadequate security around 50,000-gallon fuel storage tanks; blind spots impairing views from the guard towers of terrain outside the base walls; and Davis' accounts of local nationals digging holes in the camp walls and stealing copper wiring.

Davis has expressed his willingness to testify before the committee about these and additional security vulnerabilities at the camp. He said he was ordered by KBR not to share reports about serious security incidents with the military.

People in positions of authority with KBR have no experience or training, he said.

Mounting Taliban assaults in recent weeks and a prison escape including 400 insurgents fit a pattern of violence Davis fears will escalate to scores of camps around Kabul, including Camp Phoenix.

"This is just the beginning. Everyone knows the Taliban will do something this summer. To make international headlines, the Taliban knows it has to take the violence to Kabul," he said.

"Camp Phoenix is not designed to ward off attack or infiltration."

Davis said when he left Afghanistan in December, guards in the towers at Camp Phoenix were being issued paint ball guns.

"I said, 'God, get me out of here. I do not want to see the U.S. military fight a war with paint ball guns,'" he said, contending that the rules of engagement have severely limited U.S. troops, even in situations involving self defense.

"We shouldn't call this a war. Our troops are being improperly used not to fight a war but to provide security for contractors," he said.

Davis took his concerns to both U.S. Reps. Hare and Ray LaHood, R-Peoria.

"We have 65,000 troops in Afghanistan. How many are fighting a war and how many are escorts for contractors?" Davis said.

"Americans are sending money and loved ones to fight a war, but we're not actually waging a war."

Lara Battles, press secretary for the House Armed Services Committee, said all requests from members of Congress are examined and responded to, but timing will depend on the nature of the charges and the work schedule facing the committee.

Clare Howard can be reached at 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.

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